This invention relates to a receipt slip issuing apparatus for issuing receipt slip for the confirmation of transaction to a user or customer who performs his desired transaction, such as for example drawing-out of cash, by inserting an identification medium for transactions, such as an identification card (hereinafter referred to as I.D. card), into the apparatus.
The apparatus of this type may be incorporated into a cash dispensing machine as a mechanical section thereof, or connected as a unit with another apparatus unit having a different function to be used as a terminal for an automatic transaction system.
In a cash dispensing machine containing such receipt slip issuing apparatus, for example, when a user inserts his I.D. card through a card inlet and inputs his desired amount of money by operating a keyboard, cash or paper money corresponding to such amount is delivered, and a receipt slip bearing an account of transaction is issued through a slip outlet. A receipt slip blank, which is formed of continuous elongated 2-ply sheets, is contained in the apparatus. The elongated blank is drawn out successively for each transaction in response to a command signal given by the apparatus, and fed through a blank path. Then, specific account information recorded in the inserted I.D. card is transferred to the blank by a transcription mechanism, and transient account information including transaction details, data, etc. in accordance with the user's input is printed on the blank. One sheet of the blank subjected to such transcription and printing is cut into a predetermined length by a cutter mechanism, and issued as an individual receipt slip from the slip outlet through a slip delivery path.
For prevention of crimes, conventional cash dispensing machines are generally too bulky to carry about, so that a receipt slip issuing apparatus built therein are designed with generous depth, on the whole. Accordingly, in one such conventional apparatus, a blank is fed and cut at a predetermined position by a cutter mechanism. Then, the blank is reversed, and a first line on one receipt slip region of the blank where printing is to be started is brought in alignment with a printing mechanism, where suitable transient account information is printed on the slip region. Thereafter, the blank is moved a little, a position on the slip region for transcription is brought in line with a transcription mechanism for transcription, and then the blank is further fed and cut at a predetermined portion by the cutter mechanism to provide a slip.
As may be understood from the above description, the blank is advanced or reversed through a required distance by a feed drive mechanism with every printing or transcribing operation. Therefore, the blank feed operation is complicated, and the planning and adjustment of operation processes are very difficult. Further, a pulse motor, for example, is used as the feed drive means, requiring extremely high cost of production.
Moreover, in the feed process for the printing and transcribing operations, the blank is intermittently moved relatively slowly, whereas the cut slip should preferably be trasferred through the delivery path as fast as possible. Hereupon, it is necessary that the difference between the speeds of transportation through the blank path and the slip delivery path be compensated at a boundary region between the paths, and that the uncut portion of the blank be subjected to no tensile force. Therefore, according to the prior art apparatus, a free space substantially equivalent to the length of a slip is provided between the cutter mechanism and a slip drawing roller in the slip delivery path, and a single slip cut by the cutter mechanism is drawn into the drawing roller. Thus, the apparatus is made longer by a length for the free space, and the fixed dimensions of the free space would make it impossible to deal with a longer slip by means of the same apparatus.
Furthermore, in the large-sized prior art apparatus, an I.D. card inlet-outlet is disposed at a distance from a slip outlet partly because of the elongated construction of the apparatus, so that the user must receive the card and the slip, as well as cash, separately. Thus, there have been demands for simplification of the user's operations and reduction of the time required therefor.